1951–52 Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team

American college basketball season

1951–52 Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball
NCAA tournament National champions Big Seven champions
Conference	Big Seven Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 3
AP	No. 8
Record	28–3 (11–1 Big 7)
Head coach	Phog Allen (35th season)
Assistant coach	Dick Harp (3rd season)
Captains	Bill Hougland John Keller Bob Kenney Bill Lienhard Clyde Lovellette
Home arena	Hoch Auditorium
Seasons ← 1950–51 1952–53 →

1951–52 Big Seven Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 8 Kansas	11	–	1	.917	28	–	3	.903
No. 3 Kansas State	10	–	2	.833	19	–	5	.792
Missouri	6	–	6	.500	14	–	10	.583
Iowa State	4	–	8	.333	10	–	11	.476
Colorado	4	–	8	.333	8	–	16	.333
Oklahoma	4	–	8	.333	7	–	17	.292
Nebraska	3	–	9	.250	7	–	17	.292

Rankings from AP Poll^[1]

The 1951–52 Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team represented the University of Kansas in the 1951–52 NCAA men's basketball season, which was the Jayhawks' 54th. They were led by coach Phog Allen in his 35th season overall, 33rd consecutive. He guided Kansas to its first NCAA Tournament championship, their 3rd National Championship overall, behind center Clyde Lovellette, who scored 33 points and grabbed 17 rebounds in an 80-63 victory over St. John's in the title game. Lovellette became the only player in NCAA history to lead the nation in scoring while leading his team to the national championship in the same season. Also on the team was Dean Smith, who later went on to a Hall of Fame coaching career at North Carolina. Seven members of the team, as well as Allen, would be named to the 1952 United States men's Olympic basketball team.

Roster

1951–52 Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
F	3	Jerry Alberts	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	186 lb (84 kg)	Fr	Lincoln, Illinois
F/C	25	B. H. Born	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	So	Medicine Lodge, Kansas
F	4	Larry Davenport	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	Fr	Newton, Kansas
G/F	12	Everett Dye	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	155 lb (70 kg)	So	Independence, Kansas
G/F	21	Bill Heitholt	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	178 lb (81 kg)	Fr	Quincy, Illinois
G/F	5	Charlie Hoag	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Jr	Oak Park, Illinois
G	17	Bill Hougland	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Sr	Beloit, Kansas
G	13	Weston Johnson	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	174 lb (79 kg)	So	Newton, Kansas
G/F	20	John Keller	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Sr	Page City, Kansas
G	24	Allen Kelley	5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)	164 lb (74 kg)	So	McCune, Kansas
F	14	Dean Kelley	5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)	164 lb (74 kg)	Jr	McCune, Kansas
F	9	Bob Kenney	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	Sr	Winfield, Kansas
F	11	Bill Lienhard	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Sr	Newton, Kansas
C	16	Clyde Lovellette	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	230 lb (104 kg)	Sr	Terre Haute, Indiana
F	22	Dean Smith	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	160 lb (73 kg)	Jr	Topeka, Kansas

Head coach

Phog Allen

Assistant coach(es)

Dick Harp

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

^[2]^[3]

Schedule

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
December 3*		Baylor	W 57–46	1-0	Hoch Auditorium Lawrence, KS
December 8*		Denver	W 84–53	2-0	Hoch Auditorium Lawrence, KS
December 10*	No. 8	Creighton	W 65–47	3-0	Vinardi Center Omaha, NE
December 14*	No. 8	at SMU	W 74–51	4-0	Perkins Gym Dallas, TX
December 15*	No. 8	at SMU	W 58–57	5-0	Perkins Gym Dallas, TX
December 18	No. 7	vs. Rice	W 68–48	6-0	Hoch Auditorium Lawrence, KS
December 22*	No. 7	USC	W 76–55	7-0	Hoch Auditorium Lawrence, KS
December 26	No. 4	vs. Colorado	W 76–56	8-0	Municipal Auditorium Kansas City, MO
December 28	No. 4	vs. No. 8 Kansas State Sunflower Showdown	W 90–88	9-0	Memorial Auditorium Kansas City, MO
December 29	No. 4	vs. Missouri Border War	W 75–65	10-0	Memorial Auditorium Kansas City, MO
January 5	No. 1	Oklahoma	W 71–48	11-0 (1-0)	Hoch Auditorium Lawrence, KS
January 12	No. 1	at Missouri Border War	W 60–59	12-0 (2-0)	Brewer Fieldhouse Columbia, MO
January 14	No. 1	at Nebraska	W 69–66	13-0 (3-0)	Nebraska Coliseum Lincoln, NE
January 26	No. 2	at No. 7 Kansas State Sunflower Showdown	L 64–81	13-1 (3-1)	Ahearn Field House Manhattan, KS
January 30*	No. 4	at Oklahoma A&M	L 45–49	13-2	Gallagher-Iba Arena Stillwater, OK
February 2	No. 4	Iowa State	W 86–68	14-2 (4-1)	Hoch Auditorium Lawrence, KS
February 4	No. 4	Colorado	W 73–68	15-2 (5-1)	Hoch Auditorium Lawrence, KS
February 11	No. 6	at Iowa State	W 55–50	16-2 (6-1)	The Armory Ames, IA
February 16	No. 9	Nebraska	W 90–52	17-2 (7-1)	Hoch Auditorium Lawrence, KS
February 19*	No. 7	Oklahoma A&M	W 66–46	18-2	Hoch Auditorium Lawrence, KS
February 25	No. 9	Missouri Border War	W 65–54	19-2 (8-1)	Hoch Auditoriium Lawrence, KS
March 1	No. 8	at Oklahoma	W 74–55	20-2 (9-1)	Field House Norman, OK
March 7	No. 8	No. 3 Kansas State Sunflower Showdown	W 78–61	21-2 (10-1)	Hoch Auditorium Lawrence, KS
March 10	No. 8	at Colorado	W 72–55	22-2 (11-1)	Balch Fieldhouse Boulder, CO
March 21*	No. 8	vs. TCU NCAA regional semifinals	W 68–64	23-2	Municipal Auditorium Kansas City, MO
March 22*	No. 8	vs. No. 5 Saint Louis NCAA Regional Finals	W 74–55	24-2	Municipal Auditorium Kansas City, MO
March 25*	No. 8	vs. Santa Clara NCAA National Semifinals	W 74–55	25-2	Hec Edmundson Pavilion Seattle, WA
March 26*	No. 8	vs. No. 10 St. John's National Championship	W 80–63	26-2	Hec Edmundson Pavilion Seattle, WA
March 30*	No. 8	vs. Southwest Missouri State	W 92–65	27-2	Municipal Auditorium Kansas City, MO
March 31*	No. 8	vs. La Salle	W 70–65	28-2	Madison Square Garden (III) New York, NY
April 1*	No. 8	vs. Peoria	L 60–62	28-3	Madison Square Garden (III) New York, NY
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

Rankings

Awards and honors

Clyde Lovellette, NCAA Men's MOP Award^[4]

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
1	9	Clyde Lovellette	Minneapolis Lakers

^[5]

References

^ "1951-52 Big Seven Conference Season Summary". Sports Reference. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
^ "1952 NCAA Final Four program". March 1952. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
^ 2014-15 Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball media guide. Retrieved 2015-May-22.
^ "Final Four Most Outstanding Players". cbs.sportsline.com. Archived from the original on September 7, 2008. Retrieved March 31, 2008.
^ "1952 NBA Draft on Basketballreference.com". databaseBasketball.com. Archived from the original on January 17, 2010. Retrieved May 8, 2009.

v t e Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball 1951–52 NCAA champions
5 Charlie Hoag 9 Bob Kenney 6 LaVannes Squires 11 Bill Lienhard 14 Allen Kelley 16 Clyde Lovellette (MOP) 17 Bill Hougland 20 John Keller 22 Dean Smith 24 Dean Kelley 25 B. H. Born Head coach Phog Allen Assistant coach Dick Harp

v t e Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball
Venues	Robinson Gymnasium (1907–1927) Hoch Auditorium (1927–1955) Allen Fieldhouse (1955–present)
Rivalries	Kansas State (results) Missouri
Culture & lore	Big Jay Baby Jay Blue blood status Champions Classic "Rock Chalk, Jayhawk" Jayhawkers
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Helms and NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics

v t e NCAA Division I men's basketball champions
1939 Oregon 1940 Indiana 1941 Wisconsin 1942 Stanford 1943 Wyoming 1944 Utah 1945 Oklahoma A&M 1946 Oklahoma A&M 1947 Holy Cross 1948 Kentucky 1949 Kentucky 1950 CCNY 1951 Kentucky 1952 Kansas 1953 Indiana 1954 La Salle 1955 San Francisco 1956 San Francisco 1957 North Carolina 1958 Kentucky 1959 California 1960 Ohio State 1961 Cincinnati 1962 Cincinnati 1963 Loyola (IL) 1964 UCLA 1965 UCLA 1966 Texas Western 1967 UCLA 1968 UCLA 1969 UCLA 1970 UCLA 1971 UCLA 1972 UCLA 1973 UCLA 1974 NC State 1975 UCLA 1976 Indiana 1977 Marquette 1978 Kentucky 1979 Michigan State 1980 Louisville 1981 Indiana 1982 North Carolina 1983 NC State 1984 Georgetown 1985 Villanova 1986 Louisville 1987 Indiana 1988 Kansas 1989 Michigan 1990 UNLV 1991 Duke 1992 Duke 1993 North Carolina 1994 Arkansas 1995 UCLA 1996 Kentucky 1997 Arizona 1998 Kentucky 1999 Connecticut 2000 Michigan State 2001 Duke 2002 Maryland 2003 Syracuse 2004 Connecticut 2005 North Carolina 2006 Florida 2007 Florida 2008 Kansas 2009 North Carolina 2010 Duke 2011 Connecticut 2012 Kentucky 2013 Louisville (Vacated) 2014 UConn 2015 Duke 2016 Villanova 2017 North Carolina 2018 Villanova 2019 Virginia 2020 No tournament 2021 Baylor 2022 Kansas 2023 UConn 2024 UConn

NCAA Division I men's basketball champions